CLIMAS's blog

In this edition of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Zack Guido discusses a 470-year tree-ring reconstruction of the Southwest Monsoon with Dan Griffin, PhD candidate in the UofA Geography department and author of the recently published record.

In this month's Southwest Climate Podcast, Zack Guido, Mike Crimmins, and Gregg Garfin discuss how this winter has influenced the status of drought, the snowpack situation, and streamflow forecasts across both Arizona and New Mexico.

Dust storms create both health issues and transportation hazards. Valley Fever is endemic to the border region and gets carried with the dust. Interstates and local highways are often closed for hours in an attempt to avoid accidents and injuries. Windblown dust concentrations can be very high when strong winds occur during extended droughts - creating “exceptional episodes” of poor air quality. Air quality in rural areas of New Mexico and along the US/Mexico border is normally acceptable and well below the US EPA’s air quality standards for particulate matter. But these episodes expose millions of people to particulate levels that exceed air quality standards. (read more)

Gregg Garfin, lead-coordinating author of this report, will present these and other key findings on Friday, Jan. 25th at 10:30 am in Marshall 531. The report drew on contributions from 121 authors and will be published in early 2013. You can currently access the first chapter of the report, known as the Summary for Decision Makers. The full report will be available here.

The Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States is one of eight regional technical contributions to the National Climate Assessment, which will summarize key findings from each region and will help inform informs the nation about observed changes and anticipated climate trends. The National Climate Assessment report will be published later this year. (read more)

Was the "blizzard" in February unprecedented for Arizona, and did climate change play any role? In this month's podcast, Gregg Garfin and Zack Guido discuss this and the influence the storm and recent temperatures had on the state's snowpack. They also explore the status of drought in both Arizona and New Mexico, and what the precipitation forecast looks like for the next few months.

This day-long town hall meeting will bring together approximately 90 people, including climate experts and users of climate information from academia, local, state, tribal, and federal governments, non-profit organizations, businesses, and industry. This event is by invitation only. (read more)

Why was the Southwest so cold in January? What's this buzz phrase "Sudden Stratospheric Warming" mean? Zack Guido and Mike Crimmins discuss this and much more in this month's Southwest Climate Podcast.

In this month's episode of the Southwest Climate Podcast, Zack Guido, Gregg Garfin, and Mike Crimmins discuss the status of drought in the Southwest region, current snowpack conditions, and what we can expect from the coming months.